Tension and take-up device for sewing-machines.



No. 685,888. Patented Nuv. 5, 190i.

H. A. WEBSTER.

TENSION AND TAKE-UP DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

(Application filed Oct. 21, 1897.)

(No Model.)

1 I l 51W JNITED STATES} PATENT OFFICE.

HAROLD A. WEBSTER, OF I-IAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE GOODYEAR SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, A GOR- PORATIONOF MAINE.

TENSION AND TAKE-UP DEVICE FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 685,888, dated November 5, 1901. Application filed October 21, 1897. Serial No. 655,887. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may ooncernr Be it known that I, HAROLD A. WEBSTER, of Haverhill, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tension and Take-Up Devices for Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to take-ups for sewing-machines or machines of various other types in which it is necessary or desirable to maintain a constant tension upon a thread or cord and intermittinglytake up a certain amount of slack in the same.

The object of the present invention is,

among other things, to obviate the necessity of employing a large number of spring-pressed disks andother devices through which the cord or thread must be passed and to provide a device which will operate not only to preserve an oven tension on the thread, but also to intermittingly take up slack in the same.

In machines for sewing the various parts of boots and shoes the thread is generally waxed, so that when it is passed through a series of spring-pressed disks or eyes the latter.become frequently heavily coated with wax, whereby if the machine remain idle at times the thread becomes stuck to them and greatly increases the liability of breaking the needle or some other delicate part of the machine.

Hence another object of the invention is to provide for the thread passing directly from the wax-pot to the stitch-formin g mechanism,

so as to give the wax but little time to cool,

and to prevent the thread from depositing it on various parts of the maohine over which} it has been heretofore necessary to pass it.

The manner in which attain the objects of this invention and remedy the evils re ferred to, as Well as in what the invention con-.

sists, may be ascertained from the following specification and claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters marked thereon,

forming a part of this specification, the same letters indicating the same parts or features,

as the case may be, wherever they occur.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 represents in side elevation a sewing-machine equipped with my invention. Fig. 2 represents a section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 cient for all general purposes.

represent a longitudinal vertical section of my combined tension and take-up device and illustrate the operation thereof. V

Referring to the drawings, I have illustrated a sewing-machine more or less conventionally, but shall not describe the same, as it forms no part of the present invention, being merely selected for the purpose of illustrating one adaptation thereof.

Ct aindicate pulleys or idlers over which the thread a passes, and although I have shown two of these pulleys or idlers one is suffi- The thread passes from a wax-pot a over the pulleys to the stitch-forming mechanism, my improved tension device and take-up being interposed between the wax-pot and the pulley a. Extending out from thestandard b of the machine is an arm or support 0, secured thereto by bolts 0 c. J onrnaled on the said support near the outer end thereof are two flanged rolls d d, separated far enough apart to allow the thread a to pass loosely between them without touching them.

6 indicates a gravity device or weight provided with upwardly-projecting lugs or ears 6 e, to which are pivoted the two coacting members of a clamping device f. Each member is formed of a lever having a clamping edge f, an outwardly and upwardlybent portion, and an upwardlyprojecting end f. The ends of the two members are connected by a spring g, which is strong enough to draw the members together against the thread a with sufficient force to prevent the weight 6 from dropping. The two converging portions f f of the members of the clamp bear against the rollers d d between the flanges thereof, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4:. V

The operation of my device is as follows: The parts being secured in place, as shown upon the drawings, with the springg tightly clasping the clamping portions of the two members together against the thread, the raising of the thread will carry the clamping devices and the weight upwardly until the two members of the said device are separated or wedged apart by the rollers 01 d, so as to disengage the said members from the thread. The weight, therefore, immediately drops; but before it has traversed any considerable distance the spring 9' clamps the members ff against the thread again. Thus it will be seen that although the clamps intermittingly release the thread, yet the period of release is of so short duration that to all intents and purposes the weight a is constantly upon the thread a, and hence the tension upon the said thread may be considered as practically constant, as I have found in actual practice.

This device has also a take-up action, as will be seen from Fig. 3, the arms f being long enough to allow the Weight and clamp to descend a substantial distance after the thread has been clamped, thus taking up any small amounts of thread that may be given up by the other thread-handling instrumentalities.

A device constructed in accordance with the foregoing possesses many features of advantage not possessed by the ordinary tension and take-up devices to which I have hereinbefore referred more or less briefly. The thread is passed directly from the waxpot to the stitch-forming mechanism with the interposition of a single pulley, if necessary, and is not carried through a series of springpressed disks and other devices upon which it may leave its wax. Hence the machine is always ready for use, even though it has been idle for a considerable length of time. The tension upon the thread is constant, and may be increased or decreased by changing the weight 6.

Although I have shown and described the preferred form of my invention, in which the clamping members are attached to a weight, still I do not limit myself to such a construction, any equivalent device for obtaining the desired tension on the thread being within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, I declare that what I claim is 1. A take-up consisting of an intermit tently-acting clamp supported directly by the thread, and means to actuate the clamp, substantially as described.

2. A combined tension and take-up comprising an intermittently-acting clamp supported directly by the thread and arranged to exert a substantially uniform tension on the thread, substantially as described.

3. A take-up consisting of a clamp supported by the thread, means for automatically releasing said clamp momentarily as the thread advances, and means forclosing the clamp.

4. A combined take-up and tension device, comprising a weighted clamp supported by the thread, means adjacent the path of the thread for momentarily releasing said clamp, and means for closing the clamp, substantially as described.

5. A combined take-up and tension device comprising a weighted clamp having diverging members, means engaged by said members for intermittingly and momentarily wedging said members apart as the thread.

advances, and means for closing the clamp.

6. A combined take-up and tension device comprising a weightedclamp engaging the thread and having diverging members, stationarily journaled flanged I rolls interposed between said diverging members and means for closing the clamp, all operating as described. V

'7. A combined tension device and take-up, comprising a weight, spring-connected clamping members from which the weight depends, and which engage the thread to support the weight and means for momentarily releasing the clamping members.

8. In a sewing-machine, the combination with a thread-clamp supported by the thread, of means for opening the clamp operated by a pull on the thread and means for closing the clamp thereafter, substantially as described.

9. In a sewing-machine, the-combination with a thread-tension clamp movable to and fro in the line of the pull ofthe thread, of means for opening the clamp when it shall have been drawn by the thread to the limit of its movement in one direction, means normally tending to move the clamp in the opposite direction operable on the opening of the clamp and means tending to close the clamp at all times except when overcome by the means for opening the clamp, substantially as described.

10. In a sewing-machine, the combination with two clamplevers provided with opposed clamping-faces, a connecting-piece to which the clamp levers are pivoted, means controlled by the pull on the thread for opening and closing the clamp-levers, substantially as described.

11. In a tension device forsewing-machines, the combination with clam p-levers, a connecting-piece to which the clamp-levers are'pivoted, a spring tending to close the clamp-levers and means operating to wedge the levers apart when the device is thrust upon said means by a pull on the thread substantially as described.

12. In a tension device for sewing-machines, the combination with a weight, of a pair of clamp-levers pivoted thereto having angularly-diverging portions, a spring connecting the extremities of the clamp-levers, a support and projections carried thereby adapted to engage the diverging portions of the levers to open them by a pull on the thread, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 30th day of September, A. D. 1897.

HAROLD A. WEBSTER.

Witnesses:

O. F. BROWN, A. D. HARRIsoN. 

